PFAS Press

Last month, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced that it would delay the January 1, 2026, reporting deadline for manufacturers of intentionally added PFAS-containing products. Though MPCA did not provide the new deadline at that time, it announced last week that the deadline has been extended six months to July 1, 2026. In its announcement, MPCA states that the six-month extension should give manufacturers more time to coordinate with suppliers to report on their behalf and become familiar with the reporting platform that MPCA expects to release for testing this fall. We will continue to monitor MPCA actions as it finalizes its rulemaking process through the fall.

Earlier this week, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) announced it will extend the upcoming reporting deadline under the state’s PFAS-in-Products law. As currently written, the law requires manufacturers of intentionally added PFAS-containing products in the state to report detailed information to MPCA—including the type of PFAS used and its purpose in the product—by January 1, 2026. In its recent response to stakeholder comments on the draft “PFAS in Products: Reporting and Fees Rule,” however, MPCA invoked its authority to “extend the compliance deadline if more time is needed for manufacturers to comply,” though it reiterated that it did not intend to make substantive changes to other obligations under the draft rule at this time. MPCA did not provide the new deadline, but promised further information in the near future. Stay tuned!

On May 29, 2025, David Quigley (head of Akin’s Environment & Natural Resources Section) led a discussion among Katrina Kessler (Commissioner, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency), Susanne Miller (Bureau Director, Maine Department of Environmental Protection), Amy Rousseau (PFAS Response Coordinator, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services) and Joaquin Esquivel (Board Chair, California State Water Resources Control Board) at a State Regulators Roundtable hosted by the American Conference Institute during its 2nd annual summit on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) regulation, compliance and litigation. Key takeaways from the discussion included the following:

On May 12, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an interim final rule to amend the reporting period under the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reporting rules issued in October 2023 under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA). The rules require entities that manufactured or imported PFAS and/or PFAS-containing articles between January 2011 and December 2022 to report certain data. EPA first established a reporting window of November 12, 2024, to May 8, 2025. The window was moved to July 2025 to January 2026 (or July 2026 for small manufacturers exclusively importing regulated products) due to delays in development of the Central Data Exchange (CDX), EPA’s web-based reporting tool for information submitted under the TSCA PFAS reporting rules. If finalized, EPA’s proposed rule will again change the data submission period to April 13, 2026, to October 13, 2026, to allow the Agency “more time to prepare the reporting application to collect this data.” Note that the end date for small manufacturers reporting exclusively as article importers of regulated products will shift to April 13, 2027.

After addressing a number of other programs over the first 100 days of the new administration, on April 28, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally addressed PFAS. Administrator Lee Zeldin outlined a number of actions—old and new—aimed at manufacturers and importers of PFAS and PFAS-containing products with an emphasis on “sound science” and the need for more robust data on PFAS toxicity.

In many ways, Maine and Minnesota had the first words on the regulation of PFAS in the U.S. Their broad definitions of the chemicals set the stage for similar regulation across the continent. So when legislators in both states nearly simultaneously propose to shrink those definitions, it bears watching.

On February 3-5, the PLASTICS’ Fluoropolymers Conference gathered several professionals involved with fluoropolymers to discuss the latest challenges, opportunities and technological shifts that are defining the fluoropolymer industry.

As we turn to 2025 and a new administration, there are a few areas of PFAS law worth watching in the short term, including the regulation of the chemicals in water and their treatment under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

Our series on the impact of the election on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) policy takes us to the Senate, where Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) indicated in a hearing that the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (which she will chair) will continue to pursue PFAS.